D3Hoops.com Top 25 Poll

The University of Rochester men's basketball team takes to the road for what will surely be its toughest four-game stretch of the season with either a terrific honor or a heavy burden: the Yellowjackets are the top-ranked team in the nation.
 
Rochester ascended to the number one spot in the D3hoops.com national poll this week in almost unanimous fashion. The Yellowjackets are 18-0, 7-0 in the University Athletic Association. They  received 23 first place votes and 623 voting points. St. Thomas (Minnesota), the previous number one, is second. The Tommies (18-1) earned two first place votes and 566 points. Third place belongs to Whitworth College of Washington state with  an 18-1 record and 560 points in the poll.
 
WPI, Division III's only other unbeaten team (19-0), is fourth this week with 551 points. Wisconsin-Stevens Point (18-2) rounds out the top five with 528 points.
 
Rochester is one of three UAA schools in the poll and a fourth team is among Others Receiving Votes. Washington University-St. Louis is ranked 21^st (14-4, 4-3 UAA). Brandeis University (14-4, 5-2 UAA) is ranked 25^th. Emory University is tied for second place in the UAA standings at 5-2. The Eagles are fifth among others receiving votes this week.
 
This is Turnaround Week in the UAA schedule where the league's eight teams play the same opponents they just faced – only on the other court. Last Friday, Rochester defeated NYU, 65-50, at the Louis Alexander Palestra and Emory upended Brandeis, 69-55 in Atlanta. On Sunday, Rochester rallied to defeat then-No. 19 Brandeis, 69-65, while Emory defeated NYU, 80-61.
 
This coming Friday, Rochester plays at NYU and Emory goes to Brandeis (in a matchup of 5-2 teams). On Sunday, Rochester plays at Brandeis and Emory goes to NYU.
 
The Yellowjackets head for the Midwest on February 8-10. On February 8, Rochester plays at the University of Chicago and Emory goes to Washington. On February 10, Rochester plays at Washington with Emory in Chicago.
 
In fashioning an 18-0 record, Rochester has used a 10-person rotation. The starters are senior guard John DiBartolomeo (Westport, CT/Staples), sophomore guard Tyler Seidman (Bellmore, NY/Holy Trinity), senior center Rob Reid (Mt. Airy, NC/Phillips Exeter [NH]), sophomore forward Kent Coyne (Bonita Springs, FL/Community School), and junior forward Nate Vernon (Chapel Hill, NC/Carolina Friends).
 
The reserves are sophomore center Tyler Sankes (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit), sophomore guard Kevin Sheehy (Syosset, NY/Chaminade), senior guard Dan Shapiro (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood), junior forward Dean Kennedy (Scituate, MA/Canterbury School [CT]), and freshman forward Kyle Reardon (Salem, MA/The Rivers School).
 
DiBartolomeo leads the team in scoring at 24.4 ppg., shooting 52% from the floor, 55.2% outside the arc (48-87), and 92.7% from the foul line (127-137). He has 105 rebounds (5.8 rpg.), 109 assists (6.1 apg.), and 34 steals. Vernon is second in scoring (12.1 ppg.), shooting 49.3% from the floor, 39.7% outside the arc (27-68), and 90.6% from the line (58-64). He has 81 rebounds (4.5 rpg.0, 24 assists, and nine steals.
 
Seidman is second to DiBartolomeo in three-pointers made (34, hitting 34-80, 42.5%) and steals (17). He's fourth in scoring at 8.0 ppg. Reid scores at a 7.6 ppg. clip, shooting 64.4% from the floor with 96 rebounds (5.3 rpg.). Coyne leads the team in blocked shots (nine) and is third in steals (11). He scores 3.4 ppg. and gets 2.7 rpg. in 18 minutes a game.
 
Among the reserves, Sankes is third overall in scoring (9.8 ppg.), shooting 62.6% from the floor with 4.7 rpg. Sheehy is sixth in scoring (7.6 ppg.) with 21 assists and 14 three-pointers made. Reardon plays 17.9 mpg., scoring 3.7 ppg. He is shooting 49% from the floor, 44.8% outside the arc. Shapiro has scored 28 points in 17 appearances with eight of his nine field goals from beyond the arc. Kennedy has played in nine games. He has scored 10 points and grabbed 24 rebounds. He had a record-setting season as Rochester's quarterback in the fall.
 
This is Rochester's first number one ranking in five years. The Yellowjackets ascended to number one in the poll through December 9, 2007. They held that spot for six polls enroute to a 14-0 start. Rochester lost at Emory in overtime, 81-76, on January 25, 2008 and fell to third place.
 
The 18-0 start to the season is the best since the 2003-04 campaign when Rochester won its first 19 games. The Yellowjackets moved into the number one spot in Week 9 (games through 1/25/04) and stayed there for two weeks until a 69-64 loss at Washington University on February 8, 2004. They fell to fourth place the following week.
 
Rochester's school record for consecutive men's basketball victories is 22 – set in the early 1940s. The 1940-41 team won its final two games of the season. The 1941-42 team was 16-0 (Rochester's only unbeaten men's basketball team). The 1942-43 team won its first four games before losing – in the Palestra – to the University of Wyoming (which eventually won the NCAA National Championship that season).